Electric liquid and gas heater



Feb." 26 1924. 1,484,616

I. E. ASKE. I I ELECZRIC LIQUID AND GAS HEATER Filed Dec. 2, 1920 INVENTOR.

WWI/v BY I fi ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES IRVING E. ASKE, or DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

ELECTRIC LIQUID AND GAS HEATER.

Application filed December 2, 1920. Serial No. 427,806.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRVING E. ASKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Liquid and Gas Heaters, of which I do here b declare the following to be a specification.

My invention relates to liquid and gas heaters or fuel Vaporizers for hydrocarbon fuels, and has for its object the provision of an improved atomizing and preheating device for vaporizing such fuel during its passage from a carburetor to an explosive engine. Heretofore there has often been considerable difficulty in starting automobiles in which the engine cylinders and the hydrocarbon fuel have become chilled during inactivity in cold weather, said fuel then failing to vaporize and mix with air in such manner as to promptly produce an effective charge. I am aware of several prior attempts to produce an efficient, satisfactory and economical vaporizer for such purposes, and of various patents therefor, which structures are designed to employ electric heating elements comprising a heating screen, but which call for conductors of high resistance in such screens, which high resistance conductors result in many objectionable conditions both in manufacture and use. One object of my invention is to provide an improved vaporizer for the purposes aforesaid.

My invention consists of the constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Fig. 1, is a side elevation of a carburetor and of a portion of the engine intake lead pipe, and of my invention positioned therein. Fig. 2, is an interior front elevation of a gasket plate or ring of insulating material. Fig. 3, is a central vertical longitudinal section through said Fig. 2. Fig. 4, is a front elevation of an electric heating element. Fig. 5, is a side elevation of said heating element. Fig. 6, is an interior front elevation of said gasket plate or ring, with said heating element positioned therein. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a frame upon which said heating element is wound or mounted. Fig. 8, is an end view of said frame. Fig. 9, is a side elevation, partly in central vertical longitudinal section of both of the hereinafter described gasket plates or rings in operative Fig. 9, but since they are substantially alike onl one'will be particularly described.

In said drawings, 3 is a frame of noncombustible material, preferably metal, upon which is wound an electric heating element comprising two fine wire screens 4 and 5 spaced from each other and electrically connected in parallel in any suitable manner or by any suitable means with a source of electricity, not shown, preferably a battery. The wires of one screen are wound at approximate right angles to the wires of the other screen so as to produce a heating element of checkerboard design, with a view to very finely dividing the fuel as it passes through the element and bringing all of it into contact with, or very near to the heated wires. It will be observed especially that each screen has a double wall, which walls are spaced from each other and from the walls of the other screen; thus there are three heated spaces or chambers between the front wall of the outer screen and the rear wall of the outer screen, in which spaces the currents of fuel and air may mingle with very material benefit to the vaporizing and mixing operation. The terminals of the two screens are connected in any suitable manner in parallel with such source of electricity, being preferably brought together in passages 1 and 1, respectively, in said gasket rings, and there connected by soldering to lea wires 7 and 8 of said battery and common to both of said screens. Said screens are preferably wound upon said frame 3, which is thicker at its ends than at its sides, and is adapted to be laid in the countersunk recess of each of said gasket rings, so as to lie half in one of said rings and half in the other, and so that said screens will extend across the fuel passage from said carburetor to said intake manifold. But it is not material whether said frame lie half in one ring and half in the other, or WllOlly in one ring. The gasket, comprising said gasket rings with the included heating element, is preferably inserted in the pipe line 9 between the carburetor and the engine cylinder (not shown).

In operation, the chilled air and gasoline or other liquid, or part liquid and part gas, fuel passes through the heated screens and chambers and the liquid portion is atomized and vaporized and thoroughly mixed with the air. The Wire used for the screens may be of comparatively low resistance, and is so fine as to sharply out the liquid drawn against it instead of constituting a blunt obstacle. The preferred method of Winding around the outside of said frame, permits the economical use of Winding machines and obviates the need of manual Winding, and the arrangement of the screens provides heated interscreen chambers, and the device is prompt in producing the desired result.

What I claim is l. The combination of a frame, said frame being thicker at its opposite ends than at its opposite sides, of a wire screen comprising a wire wound from end to end upon said frame to produce a double Wall screen, a second screen comprising a Wire Wound from side to side upon said frame to produce a double Wall screen, both Walls of said second screen extending between the walls of said first screen.

2. The combination with a liquid or gas conductor, of an electric heating element extending across the path of the liquid or gas through said conductor, said element comprising a frame thicker at its ends than at its sides, a screen comprising a fine Wire Wound from end to end upon said frame, asecond screen comprising a fine Wire wound from side to side upon said frame, and means for insulating said screens from said conductor, the terminals of said screens being connected in parallel to a source of electricity.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

IRVING E. ASKE.

Witnesses:

CHAS. B. Asia), I. N. POWER. 

